Talk:Fan Stories/@comment-39837684-20200120104919
'Grove of Petals' Deep into the near mythical land of Fantasy, a lone cherry blossom sakura tree stood in wait. Pink, cottony petals waft down from its protruding, spine-like spears of wood as time dragged along ever so slowly in a reverie-worthy realm where beautiful, gigantic lizards roamed freely. It has experienced much of its life in a state of serenity, and knew that once the clock hits the proper hour, its hourglass would run out of sandy grain, and it would perish, crumbling into earthen ground and left nothing but disintegrated food morsels for the nasty scavengers creeping through the ancient soil. However, it did not hate its fate. After all, life ended just as abruptly as it started; no matter how the humans sought for more time, there was never enough. And no matter how much the humans grew weary and dreary in their pitiful lives, there is too much time. It all depends on how lucky your ticket is in the lottery of life. It would not fight its destiny for it gradually accepted the fact that it was simply an architecture of nature---a beauty to be admired, a beauty that would not last long. It waited for its time impatiently; cherry blossoms did not last long and their time is short, such as the manner of the fleeting attitude of life, and such was its purpose in it. And the sakura tree did have impending regrets that it lived so shortly, that it couldn't fully experience the thrill all forms of life has yet to show it. It couldn't weep in pain, it couldn't cry out of happiness---It was a mere plant. It was then that the sakura tree noticed the human mortal woman with silvery white hair approach it slowly, lines creasing her face and the sakura tree instantly knew that this human was incredibly, awfully old. She wore a worn gray cotton dress and a small brown bag hanging from her shoulder. The tree, if it were human, would've gawked dumbly at the sight of her appearance. An old woman? In the Fantasy realm of all places? How could she have gone here? The woman tilted her head lightly to the side, strands of braided hair as thin as can be were buffeted astray by a breeze that happened to greet the duo. "My dear, why are you so impatient?" The tree's thoughts grew quiet. It did not think it was possible for a plant to speak with a human, nor speak at all in the first place. Perhaps this particular human had gone a bit insane due to her age. But she chuckled in the air, her expression showcasing gleeful amusement at having no response at all. "You can speak." She said. And the tree did. Flabbergasted, it spoke in a rumbly sort of register, raspy and sounding like the wild places of various lands. "Who are you, and how can you speak to me?" The tree demanded almost immediately, but the woman flashed a gentle, composed smile. "I can speak to many living beings ever since I grow closer to my death. Like a gift, a talent, from the gods after they punished me." She hummed in response. The tree waved its branches because it was a curious thing, not one to think practically. "Punished you?" It spat resentfully, a bitter sensation uncurling in the wind. "Why, the gods decided to give me a short life and to be some sort of resource material for their favorite little humans. Now, I do think they punished me brutally, and haven't made up for it yet except for my beauty. But I simply cannot move nor does my beauty serve any use except as precious gifts for the ones I envy. I wish to live long and to have a significant purpose, and I was not granted either." The woman, as if expecting its answer, seated herself upon a jutting, flat-surfaced stone as if this were the most normal thing to be happening at the moment. "Do you know why the most beautiful things do not last, my dear?" She said ominously, referring indirectly to the petals the tree appeared to flutter daintily up at the celestial sky. The tree did not reply, a sour, quiet air around it. "The world is flawed, and pretty things are as far away to flawed as it can be. Whether one is pretty on the inside or on the outside does not matter, they do not belong to a world filled with intentional sins. So I envy you, my dear tree. Despite my age, I shall have to witness the bad things continue to occur and am utterly powerless about it. You, however, get to taste the freedom of not being trapped on a small realm for a long while." The old woman said with a sardonic grin. "How lucky you are, indeed, for being a pretty thing. But even pretty things get replaced. Say, if with a spoonful of magic, you might be able to escape this place faster, would you take the chance? You'll just be replaced by even prettier things after your death, so I do not see a reason as to why you would stay." She sounded genuinely curious of its answer. The tree's silence stretched even farther, and an empty longing filled it. For a while, it thought that it was better off somewhere else, but then an epiphany came over it. Suddenly and all to unexpectedly, it said, "But even imperfection has its own beauty and beauty has imperfection, do you not agree? I'd choose to stay in this imperfect world then, even if I am not the main character or that I would not live long. It gives me the chance to see the thrill of living here, even if I do not get a firsthand experience of it." It said an indignant response; a switch of mindset, a shift of pessimism. "I do not get replaced, I get renewed for, like humans, trees are also unique to their proportions. The humans give us a meaning--We symbolize the renewals. Nothing lasts forever, and just because I am one of the faster ones to go does not mean I easily get replaced. I get renewed. Somehow I helped the world and its inhabitants---perhaps I had unconsciously brought a smile to the faces of tourists, and the tree after me will continue to do what I couldn't. But I still lived to do something, even if it was small, and that in turn made my short life meaningful." The tree spoke the monologue with a certain finality and conviction. The woman blinked slowly, seeming taken aback by the answer. "So you'd rather endure a short life wherein you are just off to the side?" She murmured, astonished. "I do not endure a short life. I'd enjoy it." The old woman's lips curled into a coy smile, and her eyes flickered with something that the tree was unaware of. She curtsied like a nobleman's wife. "Indeed, sakura trees represent renewal. And some of them," Her smile widened and it colored her pale complexion with a rosy hue. She gestured to the rapidly falling petals of the tree and caught ahold of one. "Some of them might even be renewed to something else other than a plant, but that something else is just as beautiful." "Like what?" The tree's vocals end with a cough, and it chokes on a sob as it realizes that death was seconds near. "Will the gods finally grant me something in return like-" The woman's tone is lilting and playful. "Like dragons." Years after the events, the place where the tree was once planted was renewed, a fresh sprig of the same species of plant in its place, planted by a generous stranger. But, even before that, adventurers and wanderers have spoken of a beautiful, elegant creature that rose from sakura petals, sprigs an entire grove of petals growing from its body. Fan Species: Sakura (25k health, melee and elemental dmg 1.9k, 250 regen) Story Type: Backstory/Lore/Origin of species. Credits (Please do NOT alter): Creator of Species & Artist: Deltarune2018 Author: Kokobye